Irish election results finalized, but not future government

Ireland was in political limbo Thursday [3 March] when counting was completed six days after elections. Discussions to form a new government could last for weeks after the outgoing coalition government … failed to win a majority in the polls …

What shape might the new government take? Former Times editor Geraldine Kennedy writes:

It is not as difficult as they all seem to think to get a stable and workmanlike government based on the results of the general election. They just need time to act out the ritual party dances to bring their supporters along with them. … What is needed now is for politicians, particularly the leadership of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, to be big and imaginative enough to think outside the box, to explore and agree a new dispensation, which we imposed on politics in Northern Ireland.

Imagine that! Politics in the Republic will have to a little more like North.